Redemptorists in the news

New York City

Father Richard Welch, C.Ss.R., and Father William Elder welcomed Cardinal Raymond Burke to the Archdiocese of New York on October 31. Cardinal Burke is prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic signatura in Rome, the Vatican’s highest court. Father Welch is judicial vicar of the Metropolitan Tribunal, and Father Elder is judicual vicar of the Interdiocesan Tribunal at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, the Court of Appeals of the Metropolitan Province of New York.

The cardinal had high praise for the work of the tribunal, saying, “The Apostolic Signatura has been very, very pleased with the work that is going on in the tribunal here. We know very well—my staff and I—that it’s very challenging work.”

Father Welch noted that “it was a tremendous honor and privilege to have the Cardinal Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura visit us.”

He also acknowledged the challenges of defending marriage when it is under attack by so many social forces.

“We’re doing what we can here to speak the truth about the sacrament of marriage, to uphold its dignity. We have to speak the truth about each and every case we get.”

Father Kevin MacDonald, C.Ss.R., made a big impression during the mission he preached in Kenosha, Wis., in October. Father MacDonald is in residence at St. Patrick Church in Frederiksted, St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

During the mission Father MacDonald, a former professional baseball player, talked about his love of sports and recounted his journey to the priesthood.

As he learned, his aunt, a School Sister of Notre Dame, had been praying not only that the young man would become a priest but that he would join the Redemptorists.

Father MacDonald was ordained in 1991 and continued playing sports—basketball while assigned to a parish in Dominica and baseball when he moved to a parish in Long Island—for years afterward.